Marshwood championship rally falls short

Sunday

Nov 18, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By MIKE ZHEPortsmouth Herald

PORTLAND, Maine — The first three quarters were a track meet, albeit with a couple dropped batons. The fourth was rugged comeback terrain that the Marshwood High School football team couldn’t quite navigate.

But the Hawks sure gave it a shot.

The storybook season for Marshwood ran into an unapologetic Mt. Blue offense that it couldn’t slow down, and the final chapter was a wild, 44-42 loss in the Class B state championship game at chilly Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“This season, we haven’t had a game like that,” said junior tight end/defensive end Beau Blanchette. “We thought it would be a battle of defense. Mistakes just killed us.”

The Hawks concluded their best season in a generation with a record of 10-2. Under first-year coach Alex Rotsko, they won the program’s first regional championship since 1989.

“I knew we weren’t going to quit,” said Rotsko. “Fortunately, we kept making some big plays offensively to stay in the game, but every time we answered, they answered back.”

Big running back Chad Luker scored five short-yardage touchdowns for Mt. Blue (12-0), which got to celebrate its first state title since 1980.

Plunged into an early, two-score deficit, the Hawks spent the first three quarters shaking off more punches and answering with several of their own. Many of them were delivered by junior quarterback Cameron Roll, who not only impressed with his running (126 yards) but also his passing (3-of-5, 102 yards, 2 TDs, INT).

But as the finish line started coming into view, Marshwood coaches had to start thinking outside the box.

After fullback Dan Lizotte capped a 63-yard scoring drive with a 3-yard plunge to make it 38-35 early in the fourth quarter, Blanchette tried to keep possession for his team with an onside kick that the Hawks just missed recovering.

Standout Mt. Blue quarterback Jordan Whitney (134 yards rushing) drove his team right back, and the Hawks brought the house on fourth-and-4. The result was a wide-open Zak Kendall catching a 20-yard touchdown pass to make it 44-35.

After Roll somehow picked up a squib kick at midfield and returned it to the 33, the Hawks answered once more, with Brett Gerry running it in from 10 yards out with four minutes left, the score creeping to 44-42 after Justin Hockney added the PAT.

But after the Marshwood defense made a rare stop on downs, Whitney burned the Hawks with his foot, pinning them at their 7 after a 50-yard punt that rolled dead. An improbable final drive ended with a fumble right out of the gate, and the Cougars were celebrating soon after.

“They always had that one-score lead, two-score lead, one-score lead, two-score lead,” said Rotsko. “We just couldn’t get that one stop until the end, and then there wasn’t enough time.”

In their first 11 games, the Hawks had turned the ball over just 10 times. They committed two turnovers in the opening six minutes Saturday, with both leading to short fields for Mt. Blue and touchdowns.

In between, Roll — who was picked off by Nick Hyde on the opening series — threaded a needle downfield to Blanchette, who caught the ball at midfield and rumbled down the left sideline for a 67-yard score. Lizotte ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-6 lead.

It didn’t last long. Calen Lucas returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards to put the Cougars up 14-8. After a Nick Janes fumble gave them the ball back just 13 yards from the end zone, they scored after seven more plays, including a key Whitney conversion on fourth-and-2, and led 20-8 barely nine minutes into the game.

“We came out real jittered up,” said Roll.

Roll led them back. His 56-yard run on a keeper around left end sparked a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended when he hit freshman wide receiver Ryan O’Neil on a 14-yard scoring pas on fourth-and-long to make it 20-15.

Mt. Blue responded with its longest drive to that point, with the elusive Whitney using his legs on a 60-yard march that ended with Luker scoring for the second time to make it 26-15.

But after the Hawks answered to make it 26-21, driving down the field and getting a 4-yard scoring run from Roll on fourth-and-3, they finally got a big play on the defensive end. Free safety Noah Kreider picked off a Whitney pass just three yards from his goal line in the final minute of the half.

The rest was a battle that went to the end. But the Hawks didn’t have quite enough to come out on the winning end.

“Great season,” said Blanchette. “We just shot ourselves in the foot. We put ourselves in a hole right at the start and had to climb out of it. We just ran out of time.”